Reversible placard



. Sept. 10, 1929. w, COQPERY 1,727,336

REVERSIBLE PI-ACARD Filed NOV. 10, 1924 NHAK/ KEEP LIGHTS mm FIRES AWAYHANDLE CAREFULLY AWAY AND All. OPEN/N55 SHOULD BE mum cws a PatentedSept. 10, 1929.

UNITED STATES wAnnEN n 'coornn, or FL sHInG, N w YORK.

REVERSIBLE PLACARD.

' Application filed'November 10, 1924. Serial No. 748,804.

My invention relates to reversible placards, and will be bestunderstoodfrom a consideration of the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate the preferredform of the invention; though it is to be understood that theinventionis not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described,asit is obvious that various modifications thereof within the scope oftheclaims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

In said drawings:

Figz'l is a front elevational view of a placard board with a placardthereon which is required by the Interstate Commerce Commissionregulations indicating inflammable nature of the lading carried in atank of a railway tank car,

Fig. 2is a similar view with theplacard of Fig. 1 folded to the rightshowing at the right hand side ofthe placard board a placard and withthe left'hand side of the placard board empty;

Fig. 3 is a similar view with the placard folded towards the leftshowing a placard at the left side of the board with the right hand sideof the board empty; 1

Fig. 4 is a rear elevational view;

Fig. 5 is a view looking downwardly upon the placard board;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view, the section being taken'on line 6-6of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; i

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary, vertical, sectional view, thesection'beingtaken on the line 77 of Fig. 4 in the direction indicated by the arrow;and I Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the'placard only, the section beingtaken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 1. p I

All tank cars loaded with inflammable liquid are required by the presentInterstate Commerce Commission regulations to' bear four placardsshowingthe contents of the tanks to be inflammable. After such tanks areemptied thesecplacards must be removed, or as an alternative four emptyplacards, that is, placards showing that the tanks are empty, must beapplied. An alternative method within the present regulations of theInterstate Commerce Commission is to use a reversibleplacardwhichcarries upon one side information asto the inflammable contents ofthe tank and on the'opposite side notice that the tank is empty-but;contains inflammable vapor, with instructions to keep lights andfires away from the tank.

Theinvention relates to an improvement in reversible placards andconsists inan arrangement for folding the standard or socalledInflammable placard obliquely on its vertical diagonal '13, thuspermitting the placard to be folded'either to the right, as shownin Fig.2,01 to. the left, as shown in Fig. 3. Accordingly, the. main placardface is, divided between two triangular parts or members, sothatexposure of both is necessary to make it intelligible. Thisarrangement of folding the placard to the right and left as thusindicated affords distinctive arrowhead shaped single placards pointingrespectively to the" right and to the left, besides the quadrangulardouble placard formed by the'two parts when extended and exposedtogetheri; Forexample, when the placard, Fig. 1', isffolded to the'rightasindicated in Fig.2,tl1e placard face on the other (backtside "of theretroverted partwhich'is" thus exposed, contains the notation:Flashpoint of contents,is together with appropriate wording withinstructions Lights and fires should be kept away and all openingsshould be tightly 'closed?. Theinve'ntion contemplates the use of'thewording 'just quoted, or other appropriate wording,with the arrowheadformed by the now foldedqplacard pointing to the right, and wherethetank is emptyth'eplacam is intended to befolded to the left as shown inFig.3 with thearrowhead thus formed pointing to the left with theplacard face on its (back) side which is thus exposed complete placardfaces exhibited inthis' manner is emphasized and forced on the attentionby the corresponding differences in the outline'aspects of theseplacards, according to which member (if either) is covered by the other,and which exposed.

Thus it will be noted that by the use of a single placard of the sizeindicated in Fig. 1 cut and foldable along the vertical central. line B,three distinct placards are available, and in addition there is provideda well defined signal which may readily be understood to indicate (1)that the tank is loaded with inflammable fluid, or (2) with a fluidwhich is not ordinarily considered dangerous, or that the tank has beenfilled with an inflammable fluid and probably contains vapors which areinflammable.

This variety of signals or warnings is provided upon a single placardboard and by means of a single placard, which when fully exposed, as inFig. 1, is adapted to in- I dicate a lading of an inflammable nature,

the whole being permanently secured to the placard board and preferablymade of metal printed and lacquered so as to protect the printingagainst the weather.'

In carrying out the invention I utilize the ordinary placard board 10which is secured by one or more brackets 11 to the side of a car andattach to this board the two halves of the. placard A by'J-bolts 12which pass through perforations in the metal forming the placard. Y Theplacardsor notice sheetsv are thus securely fastened in position uponthe placard board as indicated and are provided with elongated slots 13through which pass J- bolts C, which J,-bolts are providedwith nuts 15,washers 16 and interposed springs 17 bearing respectively upon thewashers 16,

one of whichis adiace-ntthe nut 15 and the other of which is in contactwith the rear side o-f'the notice board, whereby the curved portion 14of these J-bolts C is held in contact with the outer surface of theplacards. WVhen it is desired to shift eitherthe'right or left handportion 19 or 20 of the placard as indicated in Fig. 2 or 8, the. springJ-bolt C at the left or right hand side of the board is drawn outwardlyagainst the tension of the spring 17 and turned to a. vertical positionso that the curved portion 14 will coincide with the slots 13 formed inthe placard whereupon the placard will pass readily over such curvedportion of said J- bolt and may be moved to either the right or lefthand side of the board as may be desired, after which the J-bolt isagain drawn outwardly and the curved portion turned downwardly so as tobear against the outer face of the folded placard.

- On one side of the square sheet comprisingthe two halves of theplacard and at right angles to, the folded or hinged diagonal cut ispreferably printed the conventional Interstate Commerce CommissionInfiammable placard and on the reverse sideofthe right hand half thereofthe wording necessary to indicate that the tankis empty and on thereverse side of the left hand half the wording necessary to show thatthe tank is filled with aliquid which is not classed as dangerous withinthe Interstate Commerce Commission regulations.

My invention"contemplates the use of two plates 19 and 20 of uniformsize, each in the shape of a triangle, the longest sides of which arehinged together in any convenient manner but preferably as described andas indicated in the drawing so that their combined surface forms asquare placard which is hinged along one diagonal, the whole beingattached to the side of a railway car by means of staples or U-bolts,illustrated and described, so as to permitfree movement of the twotriangular pieces on the hinges provided by such U-bolts and permittingthree different arrangements of the parts to expose three differentnotices.

\Vhile the requirements of the Interstate Commerce Commission withrespect to notices'of inflammable contents of tanks of tank cars are atpresent strictly enforced, I believe that folding a so-called standardInflammable placard such as is shown in Fig.1 on a diagonal axis so asto conceal the wording may reasonably be interpreted as the fullequivalent of removing the placard within the present requirements. Ibelieve .further that if the exposedreverse half of the placard bearsthe wording shown on the optional placard provided by the InterstateCommerce Commission rules, it may also be reasonably considered asmeeting the Interstate Commerce Commission requirements,

especially as it provides placard with a distinct ve outline-which isdecidedly different from that of the standard Inflammable where thediamond-shape so-called Inflam- 'mable and Empty. placards of identicalshape are used as now required. In addition to the advantage of adistinctive notice such as the arrowheads pointing to the right or left,my invention provides an additional signal or placard that indicates ata distance that the car is loaded with a liquid which, while it does notrequire the same handling as a car bearing the Infimmable placard, stillrequires the exercise of certain precautions as required by theInterstate Commerce Commission requirements, and although the InterstateCommerce Commission has up to the present made no provision forplacarding cars containing li uids which are not classed as infiammableby the commissions present regulations, an additional safeguard isprovided by my invention. By leaving one half of the reverse side of myplacard blank, I provide a means for obliterating both of the noticesnow required. In other words, by exposing the blank half I practicallyremove both the Infiammable and Empty placards.

My invention provides means of meeting the Interstate CommerceCommissions present requirements and also provides an economical anddesirable method of making a reversible and permanent placard which isalways available when required.

To prevent abrasion and consequent cancellation of the notices intendedto be printed on the placards, the metal upon which such notices are tobe printed is embossed in opposite directions as indicated at 25 and 26in Fig. 8 whereby such embossments will serve as means to space theplacards from the notice board and the parts of the placards from eachother when they are folded one upon the other.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, a perforated and slottedplacard divided along its vertical axis, means adapted to secure theplacard in an open and in a folded position and means integral with theplacard adapted to space folded parts thereof.

2. In combination, an upright placard support, a reversible placardcomprising a pair of symmetrical sections disposed upright upon thesupport, means extending through the sections and through the supportfor connecting the placard to the support and permitting the sections ofthe placard to be folded one upon the other or unfolded and arranged onealongside the other in a common vertical plane, means extending throughthe sections of the placard and through the support for detachablysecuring the said sections against movement when the same are in theirfolded or unfolded positions, and means carried by one of the sectionsfor bearing upon the other sections to provide an air passage betweenthe sections when the same are in their folded positions.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WARREN E. COOPER.

